31 days of Christmas: What to do with Christmas lunch leftovers

After having a big Christmas lunch many people still have an appetite for more, and there’s often a lot of food leftover for the next day.

The beauty of some of these recipes is that you can use whatever is left over from Christmas lunch and dinner, so there doesn’t need to be precision with the measurements or the ingredients.

These Christmas leftover recipes will revamp your favourite turkey sandwiches to mouthwatering sloppy joes and a delicious Christmas leftover pie.

Christmas leftover recipes

Zola Nene’s Leftover Gammon Frittatas 

Ingredients: 

• 3 Eggs
• Cheese
• Herbs
• Salt and black pepper
• Leftover gammon
• 1 Tomato
• Oil 

Method

1. Heat a pan with some olive oil. Whisk eggs, cheese, herbs and season in a bowl. 
2. Pour into the hot pan, stir as the base begins to cook. Add gammon and tomatoes.
3. Cover with a lid and cook until the egg is set.

This recipe was found on Zola Nene’s Twitter page.

ALSO READ: Christmas lunch: Roast lamb, mash potatoes, roast pumpkin and malva pudding cupcakes

Jamie Oliver’s Turkey sloppy joes

Ingredients 

• 200 g leftover cooked turkey meat
• 200 ml leftover turkey gravy
• 1 carrot
• 1 apple
• ½ a red onion
• 2 sprigs of fresh mint
• 2 gherkins
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 4 seeded whole wheat buns

BBQ Sauce

• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon HP sauce
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• ½ teaspoon chipotle Tabasco sauce
• 1 splash of Worcestershire sauce

Method

1. Shred and pull apart your leftover turkey meat and place in a small pan with a splash of water and 4 tablespoons of gravy. Pop a lid on and place on the lowest heat for 10 minutes to warm through.
2. Warm the rest of the gravy in a separate pan, ready to use it for dunking later.
3. Meanwhile, peel and finely shred the carrot, matchstick the apple, peel and finely slice the red onion, and pick and slice the mint leaves. Place it all in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of pickling liquid from your gherkin jar.
4. Finely slice the gherkins, using a crinkle-cut knife if you’ve got one, and the chilli, add to the bowl, mix well, lightly season and put aside.
5. Mix all the BBQ sauce ingredients together.
6. Split and toast your buns, then spread the BBQ sauce inside them, top and bottom. Pile your pulled turkey on the bun bases, drizzle with a little gravy and top with some of that tasty slaw. Pop the bun lids on, and you’re away.
7. Serve the rest of the gravy on the side for a naughty dunk, along with any leftover slaw.

Tips

This is a great recipe for parties, as it’s quick, and it’s easy to double or even quadruple the quantities – let your guests build their own buns.

This recipe was found on jamieoliver.com

Leftover Christmas dinner pie

Ingredients

For the onion sauce

• 25 g slightly salted butter
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (canola oil)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 100 g plain white flour (all-purpose flour)
• 1-litre whole milk
• Pinch salt and pepper

For the filling

• 200 grams cooked turkey or chicken roughly chopped
• 50 grams cooked bacon roughly chopped or lardons
• 100 grams cooked stuffing roughly chopped
• 200 grams roast potatoes roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp cranberry sauce

To top

• 320 g sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
• 1 medium free-range eggs beaten egg
• 2 tsp sage
• 15 g parmesan or other hard cheese finely grated
• 15 g breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
2. Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it relax a little until it is soft enough to unroll. Put it back in the fridge flat.
3. Place the butter and oil in a pan over medium heat. Warm until melted.
4. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry for 5 minutes until softening. Add the flour, mix well so that it coats the onions. Add half the milk. Whisk over the heat until the sauce is thickened.
5. Take off the heat and add the remaining milk. Whisk and set aside.
6. Put the turkey (or chicken) and stuffing into a greased medium-sized roasting tray. Add the potatoes and bacon. Pour the white sauce into the tray. Dot the cranberry sauce on top.
7. Lay the pastry on top. If it’s not quite wide enough to reach the edges of your tin, you can use a rolling pin to roll it out slightly to increase the width. Press your fingers along the edges all the way around. Trim the edges where needed with a sharp knife.
8. Brush the top all over with the beaten egg. Put the sage, breadcrumbs and parmesan in a small bowl and mix. Sprinkle all over the top of the pie.
9. Cut a couple of small slits in the centre of the pastry to allow steam to escape.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and well puffed.

This recipe was found amummytoo.co.uk

Iced Christmas pudding mousse

Ingredients for the pudding

• 450g Christmas pudding, roughly chopped into small pieces
• 500g ready-made custard
• 142ml double cream
• 25g caster or icing sugar
• For the orange sauce
• 4-6 tangerines or satsumas, peeled
• 300ml orange juice
• a splash or two of Grand Marnier or Cointreau (optional)
• 100g caster sugar

To serve

Holly sprigs, and icing sugar for dusting.

Method

1. To make the pudding, quickly blitz together the chopped pudding and custard in a food processor. Whip the cream and sugar to soft peaks and stir into the flavoured custard. Pour the mix into a 1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basin, then cover and freeze overnight or for several hours. (The pudding can be frozen for up to 1 month.)
2. For the sauce, cut away the pith and peel from the tangerines or satsumas with a sharp knife, then cut either side of the membranes to release the segments. Bring the orange juice and caster sugar up to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Then boil hard for 20-25 mins, until reduced by about half to a thick syrupy consistency (like golden syrup). Watch it carefully so it doesn’t boil over, lowering the heat if necessary. Leave to cool, finishing with a splash or two of your chosen liqueur, if using. Can be kept chilled for 3-4 days.
3. To serve the dessert, transfer it to the fridge 30 mins before serving, then dip the basin into hot water and turn the pudding out onto a chilled plate. Arrange some of the fruit segments around the base of the pudding, and some on top. Drizzle with some of the syrup and serve the rest separately. Finish the decoration with holly leaves and a dusting of icing sugar.

Recipe tips 

For the orange sauce. Cut away the pith and peel from the tangerines or satsumas with a sharp knife, then cut either side of the membranes to release the segments.

This recipe was found on bbcgoodfood.com